{"id":102,"date":"2017-04-02T14:43:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T14:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/?post_type=performance&#038;p=102"},"modified":"2025-01-23T08:03:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T08:03:21","slug":"reverse-proxy","status":"publish","type":"performance","link":"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/performance\/reverse-proxy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reverse Proxy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"t3\">What is Reverse Proxy Server<\/h2>\n<p>A reverse proxy server is an intermediate connection point positioned at a network\u2019s edge. It receives initial HTTP connection requests, acting like the actual endpoint.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially your network\u2019s traffic cop, the reverse proxy serves as a gateway between users and your application\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/performance\/origin-server\/\">origin server<\/a>. In so doing it handles all policy management and traffic routing.<\/p>\n<p>A reverse proxy operates by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Receiving a user connection request<\/li>\n<li>Completing a TCP three-way handshake, terminating the initial connection<\/li>\n<li>Connecting with the origin server and forwarding the original request<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-103\" src=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1.jpg\" alt=\"reverse proxy 02 1\" width=\"810\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-300x106.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-768x272.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-670x237.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-510x181.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-141x50.jpg 141w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-660x234.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-02-1-420x149.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"t3\">Reverse Proxy\u00a0vs\u00a0Forward Proxy<\/h2>\n<p>In contrast, a forward proxy server is also positioned at your network\u2019s edge, but regulates outbound traffic according to preset policies in shared networks. Additionally, it disguises a client\u2019s IP address and blocks malicious incoming traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Forward proxies are typically used internally by large organizations, such as universities and enterprises, to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Block employees from visiting certain websites<\/li>\n<li>Monitor employee online activity<\/li>\n<li>Block malicious traffic from reaching an origin server<\/li>\n<li>Improve the user experience by caching external site content<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-104 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1.jpg\" alt=\"How CDNs Use Reverse Proxies\" width=\"810\" height=\"287\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-300x106.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-768x272.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-670x237.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-510x181.jpg 510w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-141x50.jpg 141w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-660x234.jpg 660w, https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2019\/01\/reverse-proxy-01-1-420x149.jpg 420w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"ddos-banner\"><div class=\"wrap\"><p>See how Imperva CDN can help you with website performance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cta-container\">\n                                                    <a class=\"impv-yellow-btn\"  event-action=\"Click\"  event-category=\"LC Banner\"  event-label=\"Request demo\"  gtm-track  target=\"_self\" href=\"javascript:openModal('modalid3533', '\/learn\/banner\/virtual\/request-demo\/', 'Personal Demo Request | Imperva');\">Request demo<\/a>\n                                                    <a class=\"gst-yellow-dark-text-btn\"  event-action=\"Click\"  event-category=\"LC Banner\"  event-label=\"Learn more\"  gtm-track  target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/products\/cdn-content-delivery-network\/\">Learn more<\/a>\n                                                <\/div><\/div><\/div><h2 class=\"t3\">How CDNs Use Reverse Proxies<\/h2>\n<p>Deployed at your network edge,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/products\/cdn-content-delivery-network\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">content delivery networks (CDNs)<\/a>\u00a0use reverse proxy technology to handle incoming and outgoing traffic. Their benefits include:<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">Content caching<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reverse proxies are placed in several geographically dispersed locations, where mirror versions of website pages are compressed and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/products\/cdn-caching\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cached<\/a>. This facilitates rapid content delivery based on client geolocation, helping to reduce page load times and improve your user experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">Traffic scrubbing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Located in front of your backend servers, reverse proxies are ideally situated to scrub all incoming application traffic before it\u2019s sent on to your backend servers.<\/p>\n<p>This provides:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">DDoS mitigation<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 Incoming traffic is distributed among a mesh of reverse proxy servers during a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/application-security\/ddos-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DDoS attack<\/a>\u00a0to deflate its overall impact.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">Web application security<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 Reverse proxies are an ideal location to place a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/products\/web-application-firewall-waf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">web application firewall<\/a>\u00a0to weed out malicious packets\u2014including bad bots and hacker requests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">IP masking<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When routing your incoming traffic through a reverse proxy server, connections are first terminated by the proxy and then reopened with the backend server. From your users\u2019 perspective, their requests are resolved via the proxy IP.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, your origin server\u2019s IP address is masked. This makes it considerably more difficult for attackers to gain access and launch direct-to-IP\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/learn\/application-security\/denial-of-service\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denial of service<\/a>\u00a0attacks.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"lato-bold-text\">Load balancing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because reverse proxy servers are the gateway between users and your application\u2019s origin server, they\u2019re able to determine where to route individual HTTP sessions. For applications using multiple backend servers, this means the reverse proxy can efficiently distribute the load, thereby improving overall user experience and helping ensure high availability.<\/p>\n<p>In the event that a server goes down, reverse proxies act as a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperva.com\/products\/failover\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failover solution<\/a>, rerouting traffic to ensure continued site availability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[9],"class_list":["post-102","performance","type-performance","status-publish","hentry","category-network-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Reverse Proxy Server | Reverse vs. Forward Proxy | CDN Guide | Imperva<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is a reverse proxy, how is it used by CDNs and how does 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